[75.11] 2MASS Observations of Molecular Clouds

J. M. Carpenter (University of Hawaii)

The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) will provide an unprecedented view of
the sky at near--infrared wavelengths (J, H, and K_s bands). This poster
highlights just part of the vast scientific potential of 2MASS for studies
related to the structure and stellar populations in galactic molecular clouds,
with particular emphasis on using the extensive 2MASS data base to analyze the
properties of entire molecular clouds. The 2MASS prototype camera observed
several nearby molecular clouds in May 1995, and preliminary analysis of these
data are presented for the Ceph OB3 region and molecular clouds silhouetted
against the rich stellar background of the inner Galaxy.